Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I recommend this cookbook to anyone who will sit still long enough to listen to me. I originally borrowed it from the public library and loved it so much that I bought my own copy. I purchased it in May 2016 and have cooked exclusively from it and the vegetarian sequel ever since. I had found myself in a cooking rut that even Pinterest couldn't pull me out of. Online recipes are great, but sometimes they wouldn't come out like they were intended to, or pairing a main dish and a side dish was a bit of a chore, or the two of us would get tired of eating leftovers for three days straight. At the place I was in my life, I needed a book I could just cook my way through that did much of the planning for me. There are so many good parts to this cookbook. The flavors are creative and very often jaw-droppingly delicious. I love that they're vegetable-heavy and cook with whole ingredients, sometimes with vegetables that I not only tried for the first time, but are now some of my favorite vegetables because of this book. The majority of them have gorgeous pictures, cook in 30 minutes or less, and serve exactly two people, so there is very little wasted food. Since it's one pan, there are no side dishes needed to round out the meal for either flavor or substance. The author included sections at the end of each recipe with ideas to beef up the meal if you're feeling extra hungry and gave wine pairing recommendations. The back of the book groups the recipes into seasons, so you can cook with what's freshest at the moment. I've doubled recipes and served it to guests. I've experimented on guests with completely new recipes not only without issue, but with many compliments. Seriously, y'all. Praise hands and heart eyes every day for eight months and counting. The only downside I feel I must mention is that there is a fair amount of vegetable chopping required for each meal, since you're cooking with fresh produce. However, I view this more as a natural side effect than a downside. The recipes are vegetable-centric, so to me, taking the time to chop fresh produce is such a small price to pay for the nutritional benefit, and for something so flipping delicious. My spouse and I both work outside the home for 45-50 hours a week, and the lifestyle of cooking daily and eating healthfully has been completely sustainable for the better part of a year for us because of this book. One more tip I'd give to new users, in addition to reading each recipe all the way through before starting to cook and keeping in mind that eating fresh produce means a little chopping, is to cook mise en place. Lay out all your ingredients on the counter, chop your produce, prep your meats, measure ingredients into separate bowls, all before you even turn on the stove. Since the average recipe has you cooking something for less than 5 minutes before adding a new ingredient to the pan, and sometimes for even less than a minute, there is very little time to be chopping produce while you're cooking. We bought a set of little glass bowls here on Amazon that have been so helpful. Eating healthfully with minimal food waste can be fun and interesting and sustainable. I cannot recommend this cookbook enough.